Wal-Mart Stores said Monday it will offer 90-day prescriptions of some generics for $10, add several women’s medications at a discount and lower the prices of more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications to $4 or less.

by Sir John Hawkins

John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.

The move marks the third phase of $4 prescription program, which began in 2006 and has saved customers more than $1 billion, Wal-Mart said.

With the expansion, the company began filling prescriptions Monday for up to 350 generic medications at $10 for a 90-day supply at Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam’s Club pharmacies in the U.S.

In addition, the company will add several women’s medications to its list of prescriptions available for $9, including drugs to treat breast cancer and hormone deficiency.

For instance, alendronate, the generic version of osteoporosis medication Fosamax, will be added to the list. Company pharmacies will fill 30-day prescriptions of alendronate for $9 and a 90-day supply for $24 at a comparison of $54 and $102, respectively, that women previously paid for the same amounts, the company said.

Wal-Mart also will lower the prices of more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications to $4 or less in its pharmacies, company officials said. The over-the-counter medication price rollbacks represent about one-third of the retailer’s over-the-counter medicines. Included in the program are generic versions of versions of Zantac, Pepcid and Claritin.

I shop at Wal-Mart about once a week on average and I’ve bought everything from groceries, to the TV in my office, to my vacuum cleaner there. Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve had thousands of dollars extra to spend because Wal-Mart’s prices are so much lower than those of their competitors. I have also gotten to take advantage of their drug program.

Early last year, I had to buy some antibiotics. Online? They cost $50. At the local pharmacy? Roughly $30. At Wal-Mart? $4. Moreover, my doctor recently wrote me a precription for drugs that just a few months ago would have cost — I kid you not — $600 out of pocket. But now, thanks to Wal-Mart, I will be buying those exact same drugs for $18.

If the Left really cared about the poor, as opposed to seeing them as living, breathing vanity projects that exist primarily so that liberals can pump up their own self-esteem by handing them other people’s money, then libs would be the biggest supporters Wal-Mart could ever hope to have.